Royal Oak: From Iconoclast to Icon

The book recounts how Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak caused a stir upon its release in 1972, with its armour of hand-finished stainless steel enveloping the thinnest mechanical movement of its time and shining around the world in the decades that followed. For the first time, steel was refined to the same status as gold. Inspired by the profound cultural, artistic and industrial changes of the 1960s and early 1970s, this forward-looking timepiece anticipated a more active but casual lifestyle, while the brand ushered in a new era of high-end timepieces combining sportiness and sophistication.

Although the Royal Oak was an outlier at its birth, it soon found an audience among free-spirited youth, who recognised the watch's bold blend of technological advancement and craftsmanship. The Royal Oak has been a canvas of innovation ever since, in conversation with art, music, architecture and sport. Today, the Royal Oak, a cultural artefact beyond watchmaking, is an object of permanence in a world of ageing, and embodies the creative freedom and youthful spirit of those who contributed to writing its story.

The book presents the history of Royal Oak from a broader cultural perspective, while shedding light on new archival material discovered by Audemars Piguet's Heritage department, alongside exclusive testimonials from old friends of the brand.